Winnipeg Visitor Tips for a one, two days tour/visit

Things YOU GOTTA SEE when visiting Winnipeg

Here are some quick suggestions for visitors with limited time in the area. Perfect if you have only ONE DAY to visit (like a business trip, when passing through, or when stopping over between flights). The additional days schedule is a recommendation for those who want to see the essence of Winnipeg in only a couple of days.

You can read ALL SORTS of travel guides, and carry around pounds of paper, or just print off this ONE PAGE and have all the info you ever need! These are the area’s top activities, family activities and attractions, tourist attractions, historical sites, museums, interesting architecture, sightseeing and top shopping/dining areas. Organized into a nice walking or driving itinerary!

Sightseeing Suggestions</h3

One Day Stay

Here are the things you should try to do on your first day (this may take more than a day if you are travelling with children)

Start at the Manitoba Legislature. It’s the heart of the city and the province

See the ultra-modern (but opened in 1971) Winnipeg Art Gallery, a few blocks to the north.

Head back south and then east along Broadway, to visit Dalnavert, one of the most important old homes in the city

Drop through the Fort Garry Park and then head east along the River Walk along the Assiniboine River.

Stop at Winnipeg’s Union Station and the VIA Rail terminal, with its stunning interior. The Winnipeg Railway Museum is inside

Just to the south is The Forks, at the spot where the Assiniboine River flows into the Red River. It’s a local gathering spot, market, and historical site. There’s also a Children’s Museum,

Visit the stunning-looking Canadian Human Rights Museum on the west bank of the Red River.

To the north, you pass Shaw Park (baseball diamond) and downtown, with the iconic Portage & Main intersection.

To the north is the Winnipeg Grain Exchange and the historical Exchange District, with some of the oldest buildings in Western Canada. Winnipeg’s Chinatown is also in this area

To the north of the Exchange District is the Centennial Centre, the focal point for the city’s arts community

Head east to the Red River and take the riverwalk south. Cross over the Red River on the Louis Riel Footbridge, just south of the Provencher Bridge.

You can head north about 500 metres to Fort Gibraltar (one block east on Provencher, and north on Rue Saint Joseph) an old fur trading fort of the Northwest Company.

Head south along the riverbank into Old St Boniface, to see the largest French community west of Montreal

Cross the Red River again over the Norwood Bridge and take a short cut through South Point Park to return to The Forks, or cross St Mary’s Rd.into Osborne Village

South of the Assiniboine River into Osborne Village, and quint little district with shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. A little further west, on Corydon is the city’s Italian district, with many great restaurants.

Day Two: South of Assiniboine

Here are suggestions for a second day in Winnipeg:

Head south to Assiniboine Park, where there is a zoo, the Leo Mol sculpture garden, the Assiniboine Park Zoo, as well as Canada’s largest urban forest.

Head south again to the Fort Whyte Centre for Environmental Education

Head east to the Royal Canadian Mint, and see how Canada’s coins are made (free tour but no free samples)

Head east to the Red River to see the campus of University of Manitoba.

Day Three: North of Assiniboine

Here are suggestions for a third day in Winnipeg:

Head west to the Air Force Heritage Park, just south of the airport to see many propeller and jet planes from the past. There is also the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, (with inside exhibit hall) on the east side of the airport.

Head west to the Living Prairie Museum & Park, which preserves a rare patch of the tall grass prairie that existed in the West. South from the park is Grant’s Mill on beautiful Sturgeon Creek

On the west edge of town, past the ring road (Trans-Canada Bypass) is the Red River Exhibition Park and the Assiniboia Downs race track

Red River Spillway where it re-joins the REd River

Head northeast along the Perimeter Highway (101) to the north, or take the the Trans-Canada by-pass (Perimeter Highway south (100)) to the south), to view the massive Red River Spillway which each springtime sends the Red River floodwaters around Winnipeg. You can follow Highway 59 to the northeast end of the city to Birds Hill Park a year round recreation paradise, with treed parkland with recreational trails, summer lakes and beaches, and a winter ski hill.

If you are on the way out of town (or just coming in, at the southeast corner of the Perimeter Highway is a family amusement area with Fun Mountain Waterslide Park and Tinkertown Amusements.